Guidecraft's Universal Book Display & Storage Review & Giveaway Link

Each month, the Guidecraft Educators will share our honest feelings about a Guidecraft product(s) and how these products would fare in an early childhood classroom. This month's selection is the Universal Book Display & Storage, a display unit for traditional sized children's books on one side and a storage unit for big books on the other! I was super excited to see this, as I've been looking for a good way to store big books to get them off the closet floor.

What Did We Think?

The unit itself was fairly simple to put together, as the directions were easy to follow. I did have a problem with the last step, as according to the directions received in my unit, had me putting in a piece between the two side pieces that contained pegs. I had to unscrew the top several screws on one side of the unit in order to get that piece in. It wasn't a huge ordeal, but it did consume a bit more of my time than I had anticipated!

The unit is quite big in depth, but definitely ideal for the dual usage! My only wish was that the big book display contained slings that the books could rest in as they would on the traditional display side, so that children would have easier access to the titles available for browsing, whereas it is a bit difficult to display the books easily when they are slung over the bars.

When the unit finally made it's way into the classroom, it immediately caught the childrens' eyes, as it was new furniture that hadn't been there at the beginning of the school year! And they were super excited to see the big books find a place in the classroom where they would be accessible to little hands! As for displaying the traditional sized children's books, we (my team and I) decided to put a twist on this usage. The books we have out for the children have taken a beating, as we've discovered the children need a bit of an education in book handling! So... we decided to dedicate this shelving unit to store classroom-created books (books featuring pictures of the children in the room, engaged in a variety of activities, as well as books that we created together focusing on educational concepts - colors, shapes, numbers, etc). We thought the children might take more pride in these books that were created by themselves, while at the same time exposing them to books to gain an appreciation for appropriate treatment of books! So far, it is working! The children are enjoying seeing themselves in the books and they are readily accessible at many points throughout the day.

Find Out More:

You can find out more about the Universal Book Display & Storage on the Guidecraft website. The Universal Book Display & Storage is available for purchase at Amazon.com and also through the Guidecraft website.

For a chance to win your own Universal Book Display & Storage unit, visit:
Andrea at MommyPR,
the host of the October Guidecraft Educators giveaway!

You can also check out the reviews of the Universal Book Display & Storage unit from the other Guidecraft Educators:

Candace at Mamanista!
Maureen at Simply Stacie
Deborah at Teach Preschool
Carrie from Huppie Mama
Jody from Mommy Moment

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If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!